Health Assessment and Strategies

Introduction:

Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

    It is critical for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically so that we can lead the way for our clients. We cannot tell someone to do something that we are not doing ourselves or we will lose credibility. When we can tell our client that we did something and then they can see the result of it and see us flourishing, then they are likely to try the same road as we did. A health and wellness professional should pave the way and help expand the knowledge of the people that they influence. My personal goals are to become more aware of my mind and control it. I want to improve my stability of my emotions. I should be able to be confident and move forward with choices that are healthy despite what the day’s circumstances may bring. I need to remember all my blessings rather than the small amount of negative things in my life. I have begun incorporating meditation every morning for a ½ an hour to 45 minutes and have noticed how my whole day is changed. When I take that time I find that it feels like I have gained time. The spiritual aspect of my life feels healthy. I go to church every Sunday and during my meditation time in the morning I enjoy worship music. It is so relaxing and peaceful. Physically, I could always do more exercise but I always walk or bike my daughters to and from school so I tend to get a lot of exercise in.

Assessment:

How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

     I have assessed the physical as aspect by how I am feeling physically when I do a lot of exercising and by how often that I get sick. I cannot remember the last time I got sick. My BMI is at 21 and I feel comfortable with that. I am not looking to appear skinny but rather, toned. Assessing the psychological aspect was done by checking my stress level. I do not have any stress except some minor things that are day to day and are eliminated by how I choose to respond to them. My marriage is great, my two beautiful daughters are happy and healthy, we live within our means financially and we have a sweet little puppy. I assessed my spirituality by how close my walk is with God. I enjoy reading my Bible and believe that I am stabilizing myself. I would rate me physically at an 8 and feel great about it. There is always room for improvement. When one aspect is out of balance it throws the mental and spiritual aspect off as well. Spiritually I would rate myself at a 9. Psychologically I rate myself at a 9.9 because I believe that when I faced with a situation I can respond in a positive manner. I did not rate myself a ten because I realize that there is always room for improvement.

Goal development:

List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

     My physical goal is become more toned and increase muscle mass. I also want to increase my endurance so that I can run further before becoming fatigued. Psychologically, I can always to have a better response than what my reactions tell me. Spiritually, I want to be more aware of where God is directing me. This is clearer to me when I am continuously in prayer.

Practices for personal health:

What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

     My main strategy for implementing a program that will help me achieve growth in all areas is to create a schedule that promotes consistency so that I can make it my lifestyle rather than being on a roller coaster ride of flourishing and sometimes being more off balance. The physical routine will consist of walking/running the girls to school with the puppy. Having a dog ensures that you get more exercise in every day. When I get home from taking them to school I am going to get in the pool and swim laps for about 10 minutes. After that I am going to stretch and do yoga while I am still in the pool. Stretching in the pool helps me stretch further than I can when out of the pool. The sound of the water, birds chirping and my worship music playing helps me find my inner peace. It improves my mental state of mind because I can stop and really focus on the important things in my life and count my blessings. My spirituality is also improved with the worship music. Music talks to everyone’s soul. It does not matter what kind of music it is. After I am done in the pool I like to sit down and read my Bible. This is the last step to quieting my mind and helping me refocus on loving others and how I can help other people. I have also read somewhere that most people that are listening to someone talk are actually listening only to figure out how they are going to reply rather than truly listening with their heart. My goal is to become a true listener with my heart. I do care about other people and since I want to fix things and situations for other people I do tend to listen to give a response. However, most times the person wants a true listener and someone to understand how they feel.

Commitment:

How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

     In the next 6 months I will assess my physical progress by recording a food journal and exercise log on fitday.com. My psychological progress can be tracked by asking my husband how I am doing. Since evaluating myself during this process I have the tools to do this again and again. I will evaluate myself once a month and if I am not progressing within six months I will figure out a new plan. My spiritual progress can be evaluated by my friends from church. We are on the same page and help each other follow God’s plan. Keeping all of these aspects in my mind will help me flourish above and beyond what I thought was possible. My long-term plan is to keep repeating this process and if a certain part of my routine changes then re-evaluate my schedule and fit each aspect into a different time slot. These aspects are imperative to finding true peace, love and happiness.